My 71 year-old mother and my 43-year old handicapped brother recently moved to France. My mother obtained several quotes from moving companies.
Daryl Flood Allied International Houston visited her home and provided a quote of $10,035 excluding crating and insurance. The salesperson said that this was a maximum and that the true cost could most likely be lower.
All quotes came in close. My mother chose Allied International based on the promise that they would be the sole agent both in the USA and in France, she would have one contact point from pick-up to delivery. The company advertised that the same familiar orange truck would deliver her goods in France.
The goods actually packed were considerably less than originally estimated by the Daryl Flood Allied salesperson. However, after having packed and taken all of these goods, we were told that the estimate was wrong and that the actual cost would be 50% higher than the estimated cost.
The company threatened to unload the goods (they were already in France) if we didn't pay the full amount immediately. We were forced to pay this by credit card as my mother panicked at the thought that her life's positions would be unloaded on a dock.
In France, the promise that Allied would be the sole company proved false. The familiar orange truck was white and had nothing to do with Allied International.
Instead, we were forced to deal with a local agent that is in no way affiliated to Allied International (they confirmed this). Once we had paid Daryl Flood Allied International Houston, they washed their hands of all ensuing problems. They would not even return phone calls
The local agent charged extra expenses which were incurred by their fault, not my mother's (e.G. They charged for storage during weekdays when they were unable to deliver). Daryl Flood Allied had promised that there would be absolutely no further expenses. The contracting agent, being independent, was in no position to absorb these extra costs and my mother was forced to pay and extra $558. Final cost: well over $15,000.
A 50% error can not be called an estimate, particularly when the goods estimated were significantly more than the goods actually shipped. My mother was assured that the salesperson made estimates every day and that there would be little deviation from his estimate, if any. A small error of 5%, or even 10%, may be tolerable, but 50% is theft.
Also, advertising and promising that Allied International would be our agent in France was an outright lie.indeed this caused serious problems on the French side.
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